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As an unperfect actor
on the stage,Who with his fear is put beside his part,Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart;So I, for fear of trust, forget to sayThe perfect ceremony of love's rite,And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,O'ercharged with burthen of mine own love's might.O! let my looks be then the eloquenceAnd dumb presagers of my speaking breast,Who plead for love, and look for recompense,More than that tongue that more hath more express'd.O! learn to read what silent love hath writ:To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.

Having committed himself perhaps more than he intended, the poet now has to explain why at times he is tongue-tied in his love's company. It is, he says, mainly due to the magnitude of his love, the hugeness of it being such that it becomes like a burden almost too large to carry. He is like an actor who cannot remember his lines, or a wild beast in a fury thrashing around in futility, unable to achieve anything. Let his love come to the rescue by understanding his looks, how they speak silently, how they foretell the store of love which is buried within, even more so than that other (poet? lover?) who is so glib with his tongue. Although love is blind, he has the ability, if he wishes, to hear with his eyes.

The 1609 Quarto Version

AS an vnperfect actor on the ſtage,
Who with his feare is put beſides his part,
Or ſome fierce thing repleat with too much rage,
Whoſe ſtrengths abondance weakens his owne heart;
So I for feare of truſt,forget to ſay,
The perfect ceremony of loues right,
And in mine owne loues ſtrength ſeeme to decay,
Ore-charg'd with burthen of mine owne loues might:
O let my books be then the eloquence,
And domb preſagers of my ſpeaking breſt,
Who pleade for loue,and look for recompence,
More then that tonge that more hath more expreſt.
O learne to read what ſilent loue hath writ,
To heare wit eies belongs to loues fine wiht.

Commentary

with
his fear = out of fear; accompanied
by fear. put beside his part = distracted so that he
does not remember his
part. To be beside oneself is to be in a state of mental turmoil.

3. Or some fierce thing replete with too much rage,

some
fierce thing = some wild animal;
replete with too much rage = being overfull of
rage.

4. Whose strength's abundance weakens his own heart;

The
excess of rage gives the wild animal
an abundance of strength, but it lacks control or direction, so that
effectively
it weakens the animal. The image is that of futility in defence. heart = courage, determination.

5. So I, for fear of trust, forget to say

for
fear of trust = fearing to trust
myself, or, afraid of the trust you have placed in me.

6. The perfect ceremony of love's rite,

perfect
- echoes unperfect
from l.1. ceremony of love's rite = the celebration of
our love with typical
interchange of loving words. There is of course more than a hint here
of
the marriage ceremony and its declarations. Possibly also a hint of
sexual
hesitancy, traditional between new lovers, even though the focus is on
the
inability to speak. Q gives the spelling right,
adding the suggestion
of marital rights or rites. There could be a humorous side to this
confession.

7. And in mine own love's strength seem to decay,

The
comparison with the over-angry beast
continues. Possibly also a reference to impotence.

8. O'ercharged with burthen of mine own love's might.

O'ercharged
with = overladen with;
to charge an animal (a pack horse for example) is to load it. burthen = burden. An alternative spelling. mine own love's might = the violence, power,
strength of my love.
Alternatively, it could be read as a reference to the domineering
(sexual?)
power of his lover, if one takes mine own love as
the youth, rather
than as 'the love I have for you'.

9. O! let my looks be then the eloquence

looks
- Q gives books, which
is retained by many editors. See GBE p.136.n.9 for arguments contra
Q's reading. It is not decisive either way, but I find this reading
slightly
more emotive than the more bookish books. The fact
that looks can
plead more eloquently than the glib tongue of line 12 is more in tune
with
the spirit of the sonnets than to suggest that those same sonnets,
which
elsewhere the poet denigrates, and humbly confesses that they cannot
match
the rhetoric of those 'happier men', should here suddenly be elevated
and
declared superior to them. Not only that but they appear also to have
achieved
the status of published works. Lovers are noted for their exchanging of
looks.

10. And dumb presagers of my speaking breast,

presagers
= prophets, seers. Possibly
portents. The contrast is set up between dumb and speaking.
Note that the speaking breast actually says nothing, for it is
tongue-tied.
although it wishes to speak. It is therefore as dumb as the presagers.
Probably
the modern expression 'dumb blonde', with its connotations of
sexuality,
links back to this older tradition of being tongue-tied in love.

11. Who plead for love, and look for recompense,

Who
= which. The antecedent is
my looks l.9, or dumb presagers.

look for
recompense
- loving looks expect the reciprocation of a look in response.

12. More than that tongue that more hath more express'd.

The
dumb presagers expect more in return
than the speaker (tongue) who has eloquently expressed the fulness of
his
love. The repetition of more perhaps helps to
lodge in us a suspicion
that such expressions of love are too easily come by, too readily
enriched
to be believed, and that they must somehow be false and treacherous.
The
line also suggests, by its boldness, that the poet who wrote it, the
one
who speaks silently these lines (with his looks or books) is far more
worthy,
a far better poet, far more impassioned in his love than those glib
tonguesters
who so readily have everything to hand. It is tempting to look for an
individual
in this line, rather than an army of poets, or rivals in love. It is
unlikely
that we will ever know what could have given rise to it. Was it a
situation
in which one of the circle of friends played the game of love with ease
and sophistication, where the others stumbled? Or is the reference to a
poet, such as the ones alluded to in 78-86, who have more facility in
verse
than Shakespeare, or who are more highly regarded? Or perhaps the whole
thing is a clever fiction designed to throw us off the scent. I am
inclined
to accept a more literal meaning of this line, and to see in it a
direct
reference to someone in the group who enjoyed the young man's favour,
perhaps
his love. But it must be admitted that in the nature of things, the
details
of such a link are never likely to be uncovered by us, however
diligently
we search.

13. O! learn to read what silent love hath writ:

Learn
to read my looks, which are silently
expressive of my love, and write with their thoughts volumes for you to
read.

14. To hear with eyes belongs to love's fine wit.

To hear with eyes = to hear with your eyes what my heart is silently speaking; belongs to =is a characteristic of. Cupid was traditionally blind but he could compensate for blindness by hearing with his eyes.